On a cold and grey Sunday afternoon at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz clinched his biggest victory since Wimbledon 2024.
But the Spaniard’s defeat of world No 11 Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 wasn’t easy.
Echoing the choppy waves of the Mediterranean Sea behind Court Rainier III, the match had a turbulent start for Alcaraz.
He lost the first set to Musetti, who broke twice, and capitalised on the Spaniard’s unforced errors.
The match looked to be firmly in Musetti’s hands, whilst Alcaraz seemed to struggle.
In fact, for Musetti, it was a refreshingly disparate first set, compared to those in his previous matches this tournament where he had rallied from a set down four times out of five.
That first set win appeared to put the Italian on track to win his third ATP Tour title after 2022 Hamburg and 2022 Naples, and his first ATP 1000 title.
Until things took a turn for the worse.
Began to struggle
Musetti began to struggle with his mobility with what appeared to be a leg injury.
A physio was called after the Italian went 3-0 down in the second set, and thereafter the match swung very much to the advantage of Alcaraz, who stormed back to claim the next two sets and clinch his sixth ATP Masters 1000 title.
The Italian, whose ranking this week had jumped from No 16 to No 11, spoke afterwards about the fatigue and physical challenges of playing long tough matches in the run up to this point: “at the end it cost me a little bit today”.
The injury, plus a change in tactic from Carlos Alcaraz, changed the momentum of the match.
At his post-match press conference, Alcaraz spoke of having to change tactics to come back from a set down.
“I changed tactically a little bit, making more rallies. I tried not to make many mistakes and just get in the good rhythm again. I think that I played well. At the beginning of the second set, I think I started the set really strong. It helped me a lot to get into the match and get to the good rhythm again”.
When asked how he planned to manage expectations for the upcoming clay season, the world No 3 acknowledged the difficulty, saying that he planned to focus on his family and team.
“Just I will hear about my close people and my team have things to say to me, and that’s all that matter to me. I will try to approach the clay season like this”.
The title win means that Carlos Alcaraz took Alexander Zverev’s world No 2 spot on Monday, for the first time since November 2024.
Amisha Savani is reporting exclusively for The South African from the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, in the Principality of Monaco
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